The news comes shortly after Keen Gaming became one of the eight members of the Chinese Dota2 Professional Association (CDA). The organisation have not yet made any official announcement, but it is believed roster instability and a lack of success in recent years are two of the main factors.
Keen Gaming created their Dota2 project in September 2017 when they acquired Jin “flyfly”‘ Zhiyi, Zhai “一” Jingkai, Song “dark”‘ Runxi, Jiang “天命” An and Chen “Rong” Jingwu, formerly of EHOME.Keen. During their nearly three years of existence, KG have established themselves as one of the most recognisable Chinese Dota2 teams despite constant internal struggle and underwhelming results.
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Keen have gone through more than their fair share of roster changes, including a complete rebuild in April this year. The most recent move saw 一, Tue “ah fu” Soon Chuan, coach Tang “71” Wenyi and loanee Xiao “ShengSi” Yihu make way for KG.Luminous members Xu “Blood” Ziliang, Zhuang “xiaofu” Yongfu and Yu “Fantasy” Yajun, effectively merging the first team with the academy squad.
Some of Keen Gaming’s most notable achievements came in 2019, when they finished third at The Bucharest Minor, second at World Electronic Sports Games 2018, and won Asian Masters League S3 and ESL One Mumbai 2019. Keen also made their first appearance at The International after finishing the 2018/19 season in 12th place on the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) standings with 1,140 points. Their solid season came to nothing, however, as the team failed to deliver in Shanghai and finished in the bottom four.
Keen Gaming’s struggles have only grown during the 2019/20 season. Since April, they’ve run ninth at CDA League Season 1, last at OGA Dota PIT 2020 Online: China, reached the finals of the Asia Spring Invitational and finished eighth at China Dota2 Professional League Season 2. KG are also involved in the DPL-CDA Professional League Season 1, where they sit in eighth place with a 2-5 record.
Keen Gaming are scheduled to play Aster on Wednesday, May 21 and Invictus Gaming a day later, but 86’s announcement has cast doubt over whether they will complete their DPL-CDA Professional League campaign.
]]>VICI GAMING vs KEEN GAMING DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
VICI GAMING vs KEEN GAMING CHINA DOTA 2 PRO LEAGUE SEASON 2 BETTING PREVIEW
Keen Gaming will play their second-to-last fixture of China Dota2 Professional League Season 2 this Sunday when they face ViCi Gaming for the second time this year.
ViCi Gaming enter Week 5 with a 3-2 record next to their name, which sits them in sixth place. While they disposed of Newbee, Sparking Arrow Gaming and Team Aster with ease, they failed to deliver against two of the strongest Chinese Dota2 teams in Royal Never Give Up and PSG.LGD.
While a 60% win rate is nothing to brag about, it leaves the door to the playoffs wide open for Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun and his crew. As it stands now, ViCi are one win short of reaching a top-four placement. With CDEC Gaming, Keen Gaming, EHOME and Invictus Gaming as their next four opponents, the finalists at The International 2014 will fancy their chances of progressing.
SEE ALSO: VICI GAMING vs CDEC GAMING BETTING TIPS
Keen Gaming are on a neverending quest to establish themselves as one of the strongest Chinese Dota2 teams. While this squad have had a few flashes of greatness in their 2.5-year history, they are still nothing more than mediocre.
On Friday, Keen Gaming went through a massive roster reshuffle that saw the departure of coach Tang “71” Weny, Zhai “一” Jingkai, Tue “ah fu” Soon Chuan and Xiao “ShengSi” Yihu. As their replacements, Keen brought in Xu “Blood” Ziliang, Zhuang “xiaofu” Yongfu, Yu “Fantasy” Yajun and coach Chen “86” Yuxuan, all formerly members of KG.Luminous.
Since Keen Gaming lost two core members and one of the most experienced coaches in the Dota2 esports scene, it’s hard to be overly optimistic about their chances this weekend. When you throw in KG’s 3-7 record in their last 10 meetings with ViCi, the outlook is very bleak indeed.
VICI GAMING vs KEEN GAMING CHINA DOTA 2 PRO LEAGUE SEASON 2 BETTING PREDICTIONS
There is no solid argument for siding with Keen Gaming, who field a squad loaded with potential but lacking in experience. Although ViCi Gaming are in the midst of some shaky form, there is no doubting that they are the stronger side here.
Esports bookmakers have ViCi priced as heavy favourites in both the outright betting and the map line, where they are paying around $1.67 to win in a clean sweep. Keen have lost five of their six matches this season and have a poor record against ViCi, so the -1.5 handicap looks doable for Eurus and company.
ViCi -1.5 maps
INVICTUS GAMING vs KEEN GAMING DOTA 2 BETTING & MATCH DETAILS
INVICTUS GAMING vs KEEN GAMING CHINA DOTA2 PRO LEAGUE SEASON 2 BETTING PREVIEW
Keen Gaming and Invictus Gaming will meet for the four time this year when they clash in Week 4 of China Dota2 Professional League Season 2 this Saturday.
Invictus have had a fairly successful run through the 2019/20 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season, which they began with a gold medal from DOTA Summit 11. They also claimed an impressive third-place finish at the MDL Chengdu Major and ended 2019 with a silver medal at the World Electronic Sports Games 2019 China Finals. Invictus failed to deliver in the Leipzig Major, however, as they lost to Evil Geniuses (1-2) in the fourth round of the lower bracket to finish in fifth-sixth place.
In the months that followed, IG won the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 China Closed Qualifier, crashed out of WeSave! Charity Play – China in round one, finished third in China Dota2 Professional League Season 1 and ran fifth at ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: China.
Invictus Gaming’s results might suggest they are on a slow decline, but it is not fair to bash them too hard for their recent showings. At the WeSave! Charity Play tournament they faced one of the strongest Dota2 esports teams in the world in PSG.LGD, while ESL One Los Angeles 2020 – Online: China was a complete mess with upsets happening left and right.
While there are some positives to take away from IG’s run through the last couple of months, it’s hard to say the same when we look at Keen Gaming’s showings. Since The International 9, where they finished 13th-16th, the Chinese squad have failed to produce any notable results.
Not only have Keen failed to qualify for a single Dota 2 Major this season, they have also struggled to perform up to par at some lesser tournaments. For example, they finished in seventh-eighth place at the Battle of Dawn last October and then ran fifth-eighth at the Hainan Master Cup the following month.
On a more positive note, Keen pocketed silver at the Elite Challenge (S1) in December. However, even that achievement was soured by a 0-3 thumping at the hands of Newbee – the only other top-tier team in the tournament.
In 2020, Keen’s results include seventh place in China Dota2 Professional League Season 1, third in the StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 China Qualifier and seventh in the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 China Closed Qualifier.
INVICTUS GAMING vs KEEN GAMING CHINA DOTA2 PRO LEAGUE SEASON 2 BETTING PREDICTIONS
Esports bookmakers did a fine job placing the odds on this match, as there is no going around the fact Invictus Gaming are the superior team in all aspects.
Since Keen Gaming made a roster shuffle and brought in Yang “Erica” Shaohan, Zhao “Yds.” Jiayi, Tue “ah fu” Soon Chuan and Xiao “ss” Yihu, they have met with IG only once. That clash at CDA League Season 1 ended in a resounding win for Invictus, who finished with an aggregate kill score of 54-14 and a combined gold lead of more than 28k.
It is hard to think this bout will end any differently. Trust Invictus Gaming to sweep Keen for the second time this month.
Invictus Gaming -1.5 maps
ViCi Gaming vs Team Aster
Wednesday, January 8 – 14:00 CST
Team Aster ($4.01) have been struggling throughout the first seven weeks of the Dota2 Pro League and enter the eighth and final week with a 2-4 record next to their name.
Their only two wins came against Typhoon E-Sports Club (2-1) in week one and EHOME (2-0) in week five, while they lost all the remaining four bouts against PSG.LGD, Newbee, RNG and iG Vitality. Suffice it to say Team Aster will not be finishing top four, nor are they in a position where they can expect to finish top six.
Besides their lacklustre performance in the Pro League, Aster also participated at ONE Esports World Pro Invitational Singapore, where they had their moments and managed to produce draws against Team Secret and Virtus.pro, yet their stalemate against J.Storm left a lot to be desired.
It seems like Aster have enough quality to put up solid performances against some top-tier teams, which is exactly what Pan “Fade” Yi and his squad will look to achieve here.
After winning ONE Esports World Pro Invitational Singapore in commanding fashion, ViCi ($1.19) have the right to be considered as the strongest Dota 2 esports team ahead of the second DPC Major.
ViCi are heavy favourites to defeat Aster, yet there is one small detail which might make ViCi slightly uneasy ahead of Wednesday’s bout.
Aster’s captain, Fade, is a former member of ViCi who was let go at the end of August last year and replaced by Xiong “Pyw” Jiahan. Fade was ViCi’s skipper and led the team to fifth-sixth place at The International 2019 as well as titles at DreamLeague S11 and the EPICENTER Major, so it’s safe to say he knows the team inside and out.
Expecting Aster to win here seems a bit far-fetched, simply due to the immense difference in the quality of individual players. With Fade on the team, however, they should at least be capable of chipping one map off the reigning ONE Esports champions.
Prediction: Aster +1.5 maps – $2.31 at GG Bet
Keen Gaming vs Team Aster
Wednesday, January 8 – 17:00 CST
Shortly after their meeting with ViCi, Team Aster ($1.48) will lock horns with Keen Gaming ($2.41) in what will be their third fixture of the day and the last fixture of the tournament’s group stage.
KG have had a fairly solid run so far this season and enter the last week of the competition with a 4-3 record, which puts them in a very favourable spot to secure an appearance in the upper bracket of the playoffs.
Besides their obligations in the Dota 2 Pro League, KG also participated at the Obao Elite Challenge, where they had a rather slow start in the group stage but switched into a higher gear in the later stages of the tournament and finished as runner-up. While the tournament lacked top-tier teams, KG still bested the likes of CDEC Gaming (2-1) and You Know Who (2-0).
Keen Gaming and Aster clashed several times throughout 2019, with their most recent meeting taking place in mid-December at the WESG China Finals, where KG won 1-0. In their last seven meetings dating back to February 2019, one match ended in a draw and the remaining six were split at three wins apiece.
This match could be much closer than expected. The odds show Aster as favourites mostly because of their singing of Fade; however, considering KG bested them only a month ago, we feel comfortable saying Keen are capable of at least pushing the series to three games.
Prediction: Keen Gaming +1.5 maps – $1.51 at GG Bet
]]>Vici Gaming, the current best squad in the China region, will do battle against Keen Gaming in the MDL Disneyland Paris Major. This upcoming match-up is a best-of-three series that will see the losers go home with 150 Dota Pro Circuit points and the winners advance to the next round of the playoffs, where they will face either Team Liquid or paiN Gaming.
Vici dominated Group C, including PSG.LGD and paiN, without losing a single game. Looking into their draft, only Shadow Shaman and Abaddon being were picked more than once in the group stage. They do not have any limitation problems when it comes to drafting core heroes.
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Vici’s first opponents in the playoffs were Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP), the second seed from Group B. In game one, NiP did their homework and stole Shadow Shaman from Vici, who then picked Earth Spirit to work with Abaddon as dual core.
Moving to the game two, Vici Gaming went with the classic but gold combo picks, Phantom Assassin and Magnus. Without breaking a sweat, they won the game after Paparazi reached BeyondGodlike’s streak by securing 10 kills without dying.
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Vici’s draft was bad because they picked all range heroes without a frontliner after banning Drow Ranger. NiP’s draft was normal – Phantom Lancer and Razor to deal damage and tank with Enigma, Jakiro and Sand King as disablers.
Vici had to call GG because they did not have any chance of winning the game after Phantom Lancer purchased Heart of Tarrasque and Butterfly around the 30-minute mark.
Keen Gaming, the third-place holder from Group A, are not performing well in this tournament. They were only able to take down Beastcoast in the group stage before beating Fnatic in the first elimination match.
Both Beastcoast and Fnatic have made roster changes recently, so the two losses to Team Liquid in the group stage are probably a better read of Keen’s form.
Vici vs Keen betting predictions
Despite their draft issues against NiP, we give Vici Gaming an 80 per cent chance to win this match-up. That said, don’t be afraid to put some money on Keen Gaming in the live betting markets if they manage to pick up Drow Ranger.
Vicing Gaming to win – $1.44 at GG Bet
]]>Keen Gaming take on J.Storm next at DreamLeague Season 11 after both teams lost their first bouts in Group A.
It seems like J.Storm have stopped picking Grimstroke for now, as they instead opted for Tuskar and Rubick in their first two games against Team Liquid.
We cannot say that is a bad thing for J.Storm, because Keen Gaming will have no idea whether or not they should spend a ban slot on Grimstroke.
However, J.Storm’s draft was shady considering the have Fear and Demon, two of the best Dota 2 drafters.
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They might be keeping their ultimate strategy to themselves for now and saving it for the playoffs.
Keen Gaming drafted quite weirdly in game two against Team Secret.
They picked Vengeful Spirit as their third position, which is hardly ever seen on the pro scene these days because he is not a good hero in this meta.
Even so, Keen Gaming had a very promising start by taking 17 kills with only Vengeful Spirit and Phantom Assassin dying once each by the 15-minute mark.
However, Team Secret always managed to keep up their net worth because Vengeful Spirit could not take advantage of farming opportunities due to his limited skill set.
Keen Gaming vs. J.Storm betting prediction
Considering Keen Gaming are still experimenting with this meta, we give J.Storm a 65 per cent to win this clash.
Get on them at odds of $2.65 at GG Bet.
]]>This is the first time Keen Gaming have played in a major event on the 2018/19 Dota Pro Circuit and they will kick things off by taking on Team Secret in Group A.
Their last appearance in a professional tournament was at the World Electronic Sports Games, where they unveiled a new strategy in playoffs by drafting Dark Willow whenever he was available.
They won only two out of four games with that hero, but Kaka played him very well at position four and used skills such as Bramble Maze and Terrorize to excellent effect.
Dark Willow was also critical for inducing Fear – a negative status that forces units to retreat towards their own base for four seconds.
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Team Secret are one of the top three Dota 2 teams in the world and have already secured their invitation to The International 9, so they are here to compete for the prize pool only.
The European giants are renowned for their unlimited hero pool knowledge and unusual but effective drafting.
One of their biggest bombshells was drafting Luna as fourth support in the grand final of the Chongqing Major against Virtus Pro.
Yapzor, the position four player, was the catalyst for this strategy along with Puppey, the team captain and position five support player.
We should expect more surprises in Stockholm.
Team Secret vs. Keen Gaming betting prediction
Even though Team Secret have plenty of form on the big stage, we give Keen Gaming a 70% chance to win at least one game in this match-up.
Online bookmaker GG Bet is offering very promising odds of $2.48 for Keen to get on the score sheet.
]]>Liquid currently rank among the top handful of teams in Dota 2 esports and recently bested Evil Geniuses in the finals at MDL Macau for a USD $135,000 payday.
They have accumulated 450 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) points so far this season, which puts them 10th in the race to qualify for The International.
Liquid were forced to play without Miracle at the Chongqing Major, which is a big reason why they are well behind Team Secret and Virtus Pro in the DPC standings.
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Secret boast one of the best and most diverse esports squads in the world, with all five players hailing from different countries: Nisha from Poland, Midone from Malaysia, Zai from Sweden, Yapzor from Jordan and Puppey from Estonia.
They have been regularly in the mix since The International 8 in August last year and have achieved big results at ESL One Hamburg 2018 (winner), the Kuala Lumpur Major (runner-up) and the Chongqing Major (winner).
J.Storm have improved since Fear joined them in December 2018 as the experienced player adds plenty of quality both in the draft and during the game.
On the downside, Fear has spammed Grimstroke to the extent that J.Storm’s opponents know how to deal with the hero and often ban him.
Keen Gaming have developed good chemistry in recent times, with Old Chicken, 一 and Eleven steering the team to victory over Invictus Gaming in the finals of the JJB Spring Cup.
DreamLeague Major outright odds
$3.40 – Team Secret
$3.50 – Team Liquid
$15.00 – Keen Gaming
$51.00 – J.Storm
Group A betting predictions
Both European squads should place at the top end of Group A, meaning Keen Gaming and J.Storm will have to settle for the lower brackets of the playoffs unless they unveil some hidden strategy in Stockholm.
]]>After a solid victory over IG Vitality (IG.V) as we predicted yesterday, Newbee will finish the round robin stage of the Thunder Fire Spring League today with battles against Sky Walker Club and Keen Gaming.Luminous (KG.L).
Newbee hold top spot in Group B with four victories and only two games lost.
In game one against IG.V they constructed a pushing strategy by drafting Shadow Shaman and Jakiro as dual supports.
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Shadow Shaman is best in pushing tower with his ultimate ability – Mass Serpent Ward – summoning 10 Serpent Wards to attack enemy units and structures.
In order to execute their pushing strategy, Dark Seer purchased Guardian Greaves which provides 300 health and 200 mana to nearby allies.
The cooldown time of this item is only 40 seconds, so every member of Newbee was getting 300 health and 200 mana every 40 seconds.
Thanks to this item, they did not need to back out after taking a team fight or tower.
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Newbee ended the game by the 36-minute mark after securing Phantom Assassin the Aegis of the Immortal by eliminating the opposition Roshan.
In game two they drafted Shadow Shaman as their support again, this time to work with the core heroes, Death Prophet and Lone Druid, in a pushing role.
Death Prophet is one of the best pushers in Dota 2, as his ultimate ability – Exorcism – unleashes up to 24 Spirits that each have attack damage of 58 and significant healing powers.
Keen Gaming.Luminous, the bottom side in Group B, are holding zero points after losing against IG Vitality and For The Dream.
Newbee whitewashed both of those teams, so the outlook is rather bleak for KG.L – especially when one factors in the drafting abilities of Banana and Sansheng, both former coaches.
Newbee vs Keen Gaming.Luminous betting prediction
It should surprise nobody that we are giving Newbee an 80% chance to win this match-up without dropping a game.
Thus, we recommend backing them for a 2-0 whitewash at $1.36 odds with GG Bet.
]]>For The Dream (FTD) and Keen Gaming.Luminous (KG.L) are poised to do battle in a best-of-two series in Group B of the Thunder Fire Spring League.
Neither of them obtained any points yesterday, with KG.L losing to IG Vitality and FTD going down against Newbee.
For The Dream did not think of banning Viper because he was nerfed in patch 7.21c, but Newbee took advantage of that drafting oversight and picked the Netherdrake to counter Elder Titan and Faceless Void.
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Viper’s second ability – Nethertoxin – deals 75 damage per second to any units in range of the attack, lowers their magic resistance and breaks their passive skill.
Faceless Void was unable to bash any target under Nethertoxins and Elder Titan’s third skill does not work under these conditions either.
FTD were totally broken in team fights because Faceless Void and Elder Titan had to position themselves very well and always wasted two seconds to walk out from Nethertoxins.
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In game two, they drafted Phantom Assassin into Sven, which was questionable because Sven is always a hero to counter Phantom Assassin with his third ability – Warcry – providing shield health to teammates.
Phantom Assassin was unable to eliminate the supports from Newbee because Sven was always able to shield to himself and his allies.
For The Dream have a lot of work to do on their drafting in patch 7.21c.
KG.L displayed better drafts yesterday, picking Shadow Demon as one of the core hero in their first game against IG Vitality.
That did not go well, however, because Vitality’s Shadow Fiend crushed Shadow Demon in the middle lane by constantly pressuring the lane and farming neutral creeps to speed up his item build.
Shadow Demon was unable to farm as fast as Shadow Fiend because he did not have the skills required to clear the neutral camp.
Shadow Fiend had a net worth of 16,700 while Shadow Demon only had 8,600 at the end of the game.
Keen Gaming.Luminous vs For The Dream betting prediction
After analysing the two teams’ drafting abilities yesterday, we give Keen Gaming.Luminous a 70% chance to win at least one game in this match-up.
As such, we recommend backing KG.L for the double chance at $1.79 odds with GG Bet.
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